The 23-year-old with 24 kids: Genocide orphans form their own families

Sally Hayden, for CNN

Updated 7:42 AM ET, Mon January 5, 2015

Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds.

Photos:Young genocide survivors form "artificial families" in Rwanda

Praying together – In Rwanda, young genocide survivors are forming "artificial families" to help each other emotionally and financially.

Hide Caption

1 of 7

Photos:Young genocide survivors form "artificial families" in Rwanda

Helping each other – Twenty-three-year-old Jean Clude Nkusi (bottom left) has been elected as the father of the Urumuri family, which numbers 24 children -- some of them are pictured here at the University of Rwanda College of Education in Kigali.

Hide Caption

2 of 7

Photos:Young genocide survivors form "artificial families" in Rwanda

A nation mourns – Rwanda is currently in the middle of 100 days of mourning as the country marks the 20th anniversary of the devastating 1994 genocide.

Hide Caption

3 of 7

Photos:Young genocide survivors form "artificial families" in Rwanda

Scarred by war – Young Rwandans, pictured here performing at Kigali's Amahoro Stadium on April 7, have played a big role in the commemoration events.

Hide Caption

4 of 7

Photos:Young genocide survivors form "artificial families" in Rwanda

Remembering the dead – Recently laid flowers at the the Genocide Memorial Center in Kigali, where up to 250,000 genocide victims are buried in mass graves.

Hide Caption

5 of 7

Photos:Young genocide survivors form "artificial families" in Rwanda

Commemoration events – According to UNICEF estimates, 95,000 children were orphaned as a result of the genocide

Hide Caption

6 of 7

Photos:Young genocide survivors form "artificial families" in Rwanda

Walking together – Young Rwandans carrying the Flame of Remembrance at the IPRC Stadium, Kicukiro, on April 5.

Hide Caption

7 of 7

Story highlights

Young genocide survivors are coming together to form "artificial families" in Rwanda

They help each other financially and offer emotional support

20 years after the genocide, many young people still carry scars from the past

The country is currently in the middle of 100 days of mourning

(CNN)It's a sunny April afternoon at the University of Rwanda College of Education in Kigali. Some students huddle in groups conversing in hushed voices; others hurry between buildings carrying books. Exams begin in a week.

On a grassy knoll behind an office block, Jean Claude Nkusi is giving his 24 children a talking to. "Study hard everyone," he says. "If you work hard you can improve your life and make it better."

This isn't your typical family. Nkusi is 23. None of his "children" share his DNA. In fact, the only thing linking them is that they're all genocide survivors -- ethnic Rwandan Tutsis who lost their families in the 1994 violence that killed 800,000 people.

Photos:Praying for forgiveness in Rwanda

Photos:Praying for forgiveness in Rwanda

Rwanda 20 years later – Family photos of victims of the 1994 Rwanda genocide hang inside the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre in the country's capital of Kigali on April 5.

Hide Caption

1 of 11

Photos:Praying for forgiveness in Rwanda

Rwanda 20 years later – Alphonsine Mukamfizi, 42, who survived three attempts on her life and had to fake death to survive, poses at her home in Nyamata, a small town outside Kigali. The rest of her 11 family members were killed in the 1994 genocide.

Hide Caption

2 of 11

Photos:Praying for forgiveness in Rwanda

Rwanda 20 years later – Prisoners convicted of genocide are interviewed by a delegation from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum that visited a prison in Nyanza on April 3.

Hide Caption

3 of 11

Photos:Praying for forgiveness in Rwanda

Rwanda 20 years later – Rwandans worship during a Sunday service at the Chapel Mbyo on April 6 in Mybo. Some scholars say Christian leaders gave moral sanction to the genocide.

Hide Caption

4 of 11

Photos:Praying for forgiveness in Rwanda

Rwanda 20 years later – Teacher Alphonse Senyoni leads a class on history, politics and the 1994 genocide for former Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda combatants in Mutobo on April 10.

Hide Caption

5 of 11

Photos:Praying for forgiveness in Rwanda

Rwanda 20 years later – Thousands of people gather April 5 at the Kicukiro College of Technology in Kigali to commemorate the 2,000 people who were abandoned by United Nations troops during the 1994 genocide.

Hide Caption

6 of 11

Photos:Praying for forgiveness in Rwanda

Rwanda 20 years later – Ophelia Nyiramagumeri holds a rosary in Kigali. It was given to her by her nephew, who was killed in the 1994 genocide.

Hide Caption

7 of 11

Photos:Praying for forgiveness in Rwanda

Rwanda 20 years later – Skulls of victims from the genocide are displayed inside the Ntarama Catholic Church memorial on April 4 in Ntarama.

Hide Caption

8 of 11

Photos:Praying for forgiveness in Rwanda

Rwanda 20 years later – Bizimana Emmanuel, who was born two years before the genocide, is consoled by a woman during a public ceremony at Amahoro stadium in Kigali on April 7 to mark the 20th anniversary of the genocide.

Hide Caption

9 of 11

Photos:Praying for forgiveness in Rwanda

Rwanda 20 years later – Members of the Sainte-Famille Catholic Church congregation pray during a Sunday morning service in Kigali on April 6. The church was the scene of many killings during the 1994 genocide.

Hide Caption

10 of 11

Photos:Praying for forgiveness in Rwanda

Rwanda 20 years later – People hold a candlelight vigil at Amahoro Stadium in Kigali on April 7 during a ceremony marking the anniversary of the genocide.

Hide Caption

11 of 11

JUST WATCHED

Can 'African Craigslist' turn a profit?

MUST WATCH

Can 'African Craigslist' turn a profit?03:00

'It's because of history'

Creating "artificial families" to help young genocide survivors cope is the brainchild of an organization called the Association for Student Genocide Survivors (AERG). Originally founded by 12 University of Rwanda students in 1996, they've expanded to 43,397 university and high school students from across the tiny east-central African country today.

Read More

AERG initially creates families from members based on the secondary school or university they attend, after which the newly-formed family meet to democratically elect a willing father and mother from among their ranks. Though they don't all live together, they do help each other out financially and attempt to pool their resources.

In the University of Rwanda's College of Education alone there are 21 such families, with hundreds more being set up across the country.

"(We) Rwandans, we used to have big families but during the genocide many people were killed," says Daniel Tuyizere, AERG's second vice coordinator at the University of Rwanda.

We have to build artificial families so that we can go back to the way we were

Daniel Tuyizere, AERG

"To fight against that, we have to build artificial families so that we can go back to the way we were," he adds. "That's why you can find a father with 25 children -- it's because of that, it's because of history."

AERG National Coordinator Constantine Rukundo explains that the concept stems from a basic necessity.

"You need someone to care about you," she says, adding that the aim is that the families will stay together for life. "When you get married your family will be there; they'll be the first to help you."

Scarred by war

UNICEF estimates that 95,000 children were orphaned as a result of the genocide. Seventy per cent witnessed murders or injuries, while many were victims of violence and rape themselves.

Their problems continued after 1994. By 2001, an estimated 264,000 Rwandan children had lost one or both parents to AIDS, a disease which was partly spread through the use of rape as a tool of war.

Today many of these young people suffer disproportionately from poverty, homelessness, trauma and legal issues, including having had their deceased parents' land taken away from them when they were too young to claim it.

Bringing light back

Rwanda is currently in the middle of 100 days of mourning. The 20th anniversary commemorations have been upsetting for many of the young people who still carry both physical and mental scars from the past.

It's when something was dark, and now it is bright again.

Jean Claude Nkusi

Kelsey Finnegan, Project Officer at Survivors Fund, says that trauma permeates into many different aspects of their lives: "Many for example have difficulties studying, maintaining relationships, or have issues with drugs and alcohol."

Kevin Mugina, 21, says that being in a family environment helps young people to deal with their emotions. "Some people used to be very angry." He says that together they discuss their feelings and how to control them enough so that they can live peacefully with their neighbors.

Yet, he adds, trauma among his peers is still a huge issue. "We have kids who have been so shocked from genocide that they have a permanent shock -- that is one of our big problems."

But overall, it seems that they are in good hands. Augustin Nsengiyumua, 27, calls up his artificial mother for all sorts of small things. "For example if I don't have a pen, or I don't have soap," he says.

Younger than several of his artificial offspring, Nkusi says that fatherhood is a lot of responsibility but he relishes it. "You have to know every situation that your children are in -- if they're studying without any problem, if they're eating, everyday life. If one of them is sick I have to be the first one to know it."

He has named their family Urumuri.

"Urumuri," Nkusi says, "means to light something up. It's when something was dark, and now it is bright again."